


tip jar

by starlightkun



Category: NCT (Band), WAYV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Magic, F/M, Fluff, but this is still one of my favorite fics ive ever written ok, my first attempt at a magic system lmao, to mixed results, yes this is a coffee shop meet-cute but with magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:14:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 18,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26906452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starlightkun/pseuds/starlightkun
Summary: in which you get a new regular at your coffee shop who is a lot… stranger than you first assumed
Relationships: Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Reader
Kudos: 27





	1. [one]

Opening at your aunt’s coffee shop was not your favorite way to start your day. Especially because in your sleepy little hometown, you got the strangest array of people in the shop at the most ungodly hour of the morning, four a.m. What godforsaken coffee shop _opens_ at four a.m., making whoever’s opening—you—have to wake up and get your ass to work at three-fifteen in the morning? The one you work at, apparently.

Despite it being the middle of summer, you found yourself shivering as you walked to the coffee shop that was quaintly situated at the edge of the courtyard around the large fountain which served as the centerpiece of the village. The spray of the fountain only made the goosebumps on your arms angrier, and you rubbed at them with your bare, cold hands in a feeble attempt to warm them. You wished that you had thought to grab a scarf or jacket of some kind, or at least worn pants and not the lemon-printed shorts you were wearing. Lemonade was to be the special day, which was why you’d chosen that attire, however you doubted that you would sell much of the cold drink if the day continued on to be this chilly.

Fishing the keys from your small purse, you flipped to the correct one, inserting it into the lock and turning it until you heard the satisfying click. Pushing the doors open, you were grateful that the air conditioning hadn’t turned on yet for the day, making it a near oven inside. You set to work turning on all the lights, unstacking the chairs, then wrote out the specials on the chalkboard in the neatest and cutest lettering you could manage. With fifteen minutes left until official opening, you threw on your short baby coral apron—the standard uniform—and finished your checklist of pre-opening tasks.

Five minutes later, which was ten minutes before you had to open, Mr. Lee was standing at the door, waiting politely for you to see him. Despite the store’s hours being written on the very door he was peering at you through, he nonetheless came before opening. You couldn’t leave him just standing outside the door, however, so you would have to open it and let him in. He would then take your next ten minutes that you were supposed to use to continue getting the store ready for customers, deliberating about what drink to get. You couldn’t make it early in anticipation for his arrival, because he came on random days with seemingly no schedule _and_ ordered a different drink each time. And you weren’t allowed to turn you back on a customer unless you were making their drink, meaning that you couldn’t continue setting up.

Mr. Lee was an older gentleman, which was why you couldn’t chastise him the slightest for the inconvenience he provided you. So after he had chosen a hot coffee with Italian vanilla creamer and two squirts of liquid cane sugar to be his drink for the day, you quickly went to make it. Thankfully, it wasn’t an elaborate drink this time. He thanked you before he left, and your eyes were glued to the empty tip jar. The bastard never even tips for your inconvenience either.

Your next customers were always a group of middle-aged women whose kids were between the ages of 3 and 7, and they liked to speed-walk around town together before their kids woke up for school. They would always giggle together whenever any of them chose something unhealthy, calling it their cheat day. Apparently cheat day was every day for them. Today, Mrs. Kim had chosen a hot chocolate _with_ whip cream, sending them all off into mischievous titters. Mrs. Jung followed her lead, ordering a blonde coffee with cream and sugar as opposed to her normal “healthier” order of dark roast coffee with almond milk and artificial sweetener. You didn’t have the heart to tell her that drinking any amount of coffee was unhealthy, and that artificial sweetener was linked to cancer.

Mrs. Im and Mrs. Oh also each ordered a hot chocolate, but theirs was without whip cream, making Mrs. Kim complain loudly, “Hey! Now _I_ look fat! Friends don’t let friends look fat alone!”

You waited for them to sort it out, either Mrs. Kim or the other two women would change their orders. After a loud debate that you could barely understand a word of, it seemed that Mrs. Kim had won out, as both Mrs. Im and Mrs. Oh approached the counter again. They requested whip cream on theirs, which you gladly filled in on the side of their cups. All four of their drinks were always on the same receipt, rotating out who was paying for the day. Today was Mrs. Jung’s day, which made sense as to why she chose the less expensive option as compared to the other three women’s hot chocolate.

After giving her credit card back to her, you thanked her and let them know that their orders would be ready soon. Mrs. Jung fished into her wallet again, depositing a few small bills into the tip jar. You grinned, giving her another thanks. At least they would tip you, even if it was only 10%, which felt like a slap in the face. But a tip was still a tip.

Your next customer was always a toss-up. If it was a weekday, the stream of businessmen stopping by on their way out of your small town and towards the large neighboring city would soon fill the shop. If it was a weekend, you could sometimes count on the occasional triathlon trainee who would ask at least once a month if you had started selling pressed juice. You still haven’t yet.

This time it was a young man that you couldn’t remember seeing before in the shop, his light pinkish hair swept away from his face, bright eyes scanning the coffee shop inquisitively, hands stuffed in the pockets of his jeans, and an over-sized hoodie dwarfing his form. He approached the counter, momentarily looking at you before inspecting the menu board.

“Hi! New in town?” You said it to be a statement more than a question, which was why the man’s reply caught you off guard.

He didn’t even look down from the menu board above your head as he replied casually, “No, actually.”

You tilted your head curiously, “I’ve lived here my whole life, I think I’d have seen you before.”

“Well so have I.” The man retorted, still reading the choices.

“Really?” You couldn’t hide the disbelief from your voice, eyebrow arching.

“Yes.”

“What’s your name?”

“You can just call me WinWin, all my friends do.”

“And what friends are those?” As soon as you had snorted that out, you immediately bit down on your lip in regret. You couldn’t talk to a customer like that, your aunt would have your head on a pike if she had heard that conversation.

WinWin’s sharp eyes finally fell from the menu, catching yours as he gave you frank smile, “I think I know what I’d like to drink.”

You felt guilty for having said something so snarky to someone you just met, _and_ who was a customer. Throwing your sweetest customer voice and sugary smile on, you said cheerfully, “Wonderful! What are you going to have?”

WinWin thankfully didn’t seem too fazed by your earlier coarse tone, handing you a large bill as you rung him up, and immediately depositing the hefty amount of change he got in return right into your nearly barren tip jar. You nearly choked, the amount he had just put in was about what you would make in tips in two weeks, and he had just given it to you barely two hours into your day. Giving him an enthusiastic ‘thank you!’ you immediately set to work on making his iced banana nut bread latte. You realized that you hadn’t put on any quaint coffee shop music, and with WinWin watching you work, you were suddenly aware of the suffocating quiet in the small store.

You finished his drink in pretty much record time for you, despite your stiff fingers as you worked. The breeze outside had slowed down, and the shop felt even colder than before. Hopefully the air conditioning hadn’t gone haywire. Again. You always asked your aunt to get that fixed, but she claimed that it worked perfectly fine and that you were too sensitive.

When you were done with his drink, you bustled over to the counter where he was already waiting, handing him the cup. “Here you go!” You chirped, giving him your best customer service smile.

“Thank you, Y/N.” He nodded, giving you that same tense, frank smile as before.

WinWin practically glided out of your store, closing the door soundlessly behind him. And you thought back to what he had said, about living here his whole life as well. It was a very small town, and he seemed to be your age. If you didn’t remember him from around town, you’d figured that at least you might’ve have caught a glimpse of him sometime during your school years.

When you went out to do your round of preparing the store for the next shift, you frowned as you noticed a full cup in the garbage bag you pulled out, the name _WinWin_ in your handwriting peeking up.

* * *

After the equally chilly walk back home, you nearly collapsed onto your couch. You had been standing for almost ten hours straight, and you were pretty sure you could file a lawsuit about it. Originally you were supposed to be there for seven hours, with a 30-minute lunch break and two 10-minute breaks periodically. Instead, you had to take a single 2-minute snack/bathroom break because you only had _one_ employee come in today other than you. Jeno, your cousin Jaemin, and Donghyuck were supposed to come relieve you after some time and take rotating shifts, but instead you only had Mark Lee to help you for the day.

You liked Mark just fine, the younger boy was a hard worker and tried his very best, but he was not actually much of a help. Probably due the crippling anxiety you were pretty sure he had, guessing by how he could never take a customer’s order, make eye contact with you, have a real conversation with anybody, or function at all if he knew someone was watching him. You had come back from your 2-minute snack/bathroom break to find a very angry customer, a large macchiato spilled all over the counter and floor behind the counter, and a nearly hyperventilating Mark. All because he had tried to hand the customer his drink.

So then you had to usher Mark into the storeroom in the back, apologize to the customer, remake his drink, clean up the spilled drink, then go into the back to help calm down your still-panicking high schooler. Again, you loved the poor boy like your own son, but you knew he had only been hired because he was your cousin’s best friend, and your aunt loved to play favorites. Same with the other three employees, two of whom ran in four hours late to their shifts and nearly got slapped upside the head by you. You never did see Jaemin today.

“How was work?” Speak of the devil, your middle cousin was sitting on your couch when you had attempted to collapse onto it, leaving only a small two-thirds of a cushion for you as he was taking up most of the couch.

“I hate you, and your friends are a fucking mess.” You tried to keep the malice from your voice, but it still seeped through as you could feel an ache through every cell of your body.

“What’s new?” Jaemin still didn’t look up from his phone screen, and you rolled your eyes, shoving his legs over so that the both of you were splitting the couch. He looked up from his phone then, pausing when he saw how absolutely dead you were sure you looked.

Your younger cousin’s features softened as he swung his legs over the couch to stand up, “I’m sorry, Y/N. Here, I’ll go get you some water. And you must be hungry too, there’s leftovers from when your mom made lunch earlier. I’ll reheat those for you. Then you can rant to me about how dumb me and my friends are, okay?”

You nodded, and he flashed you a sympathetic smile before disappearing into your kitchen. Stretching your tired limbs and getting into a comfy position, you triumphantly took up most of the couch. From the kitchen, you could hear the sounds of the microwave humming and Jaemin depositing ice into a cup, then water. He returned, handing you the cup of cold water, then ran back into the kitchen right as the microwave dinged, signaling that the food was warm. You sat up to be able to eat and drink aptly, taking a long sip of the water, then a couple bites of food before delving into your mess of a day with Jaemin.

“First of all, I had to open today, and was supposed to be working a seven-hour shift with Mark helping me for half, then the other boys coming and taking over on rotating shifts, so I could _go home_. Mark was the only one to show up. It was just me and Mark Lee during two separate rush hours.” You vented, earning an empathetic grimace from Jaemin.

You took a sip of water before continuing, “I try to take two minutes for myself during a quiet time to pee and shove some kind of food in my mouth and come back to Mark almost having a full-blown panic attack while this asshole customer gets angry about his macchiato now being all over the floor. So I had to take care of that whole situation, then Mark’s situation. And finally, four hours late, Jeno and Donghyuck show up. And _you_ never did.”

“I’m sorry,” Jaemin wrapped his arms around you, squeezing you gratefully, “Thank you for helping Mark out. You’re too good to us.”

“You’re all like my annoying, disgraceful, little brothers that I want to strangle most of the time.” You admitted, patting your cousin’s back. “And if your mom didn’t run the coffee shop, you all wouldn’t have any jobs whatsoever.”

“Yep.”

Another figure walked into the living room then, hand going for some of your food. “Yah, Taeil!” You hissed at your older cousin. “That’s mine!”

“My bad.” He grinned, plopping down on the other side of his brother, then referenced the hug he had walked in on. “Were you crying or something?”

“No.”

The youngest of your cousins entered, also snatching some of your food, dodging your hand that went to swat his arm as he walked by to get to an armchair, “Well good afternoon to you too, Y/N!”

“Why can’t you people live in your own house and eat your own food?” You scowled at Jisung, earning a shit-eating grin in response.

“Uh, Aunt Hajin makes way better food than our mom.” He snorted, to which the other two boys agreed.

Rolling your eyes, you shoved your plate further towards the middle of the table and stood up, “Have it, I’m going to talk to Johnny.”

You trudged upstairs, cursing your still-sore feet that radiated pain with every step you climbed. Having reached the second floor, you went to knock on your older brother’s bedroom door impatiently. When he didn’t respond immediately, you knocked again, calling out his name, “Johnny! Are you awake?”

“Well, I fuckin’ am now.” Came his equally loud response right before the door was swung open. Your brother rubbed the sleep out of his eyes before attempting to fix his bedhead. He blinked a few more times before stepping aside, letting you enter his somewhat messy room.

“So what’s up?” He asked, watching you look around. “The boys bothering you again?”

“When are they not?” You scoffed. “But I was wondering if you had any of your old yearbooks still.”

“From what year?”

“All of them.”

Johnny hesitantly walked over to his bookshelf as he eyed you suspiciously, “Why?”

“I’m not getting blackmail material on you, I’m trying to find someone.”

“Here.” He handed you a giant stack of books, then grabbed another to set down on the ground. “The whole decade and a half of schooling. Have fun.”

“Thanks, Johnny.” You put your stack down too, arms already hurting. “Mind if I stay in here to look at them?”

“Go ahead.” Your brother flopped back down on his bed, pulling his phone out of his pocket as you opened his very first primary school yearbook.

Thirty frustrating minutes later and you were on his sophomore year, still with no luck in finding WinWin. You knew that wasn’t his real name, which was why you were hoping that you could go off sight mostly, but nobody looked remotely like man you saw in your shop today. Groaning, you slammed the book shut, picking up the next year.

“Who are you looking for?” Johnny called out, sounding amused at your frustration.

“This dude that came into the coffee shop today, WinWin. He said he’s lived here his whole life, but _I’ve_ never seen him. He doesn’t look any older than you, so I figured that I could find him in here.” You explained, eyes scanning the pages hungrily.

“WinWin.”

“I know that’s not his real name, I’m not that dumb.”

“Why do you want to find him so bad?”

“I’ve never seen him! I may not _know_ everybody in this damn town, but I have definitely _seen_ everybody. And I’ve never seen him!”

Johnny paused, still watching you furiously flip the page, “So he’s cute?”

“What?” Your head snapped up from the multitude of faces that weren’t him to glare at your brother. “I mean, yeah—but that’s not the point! Either he’s lying, or—”

“Or you just haven’t seen everyone in this town, Y/N.” He suggested gently. “You need to chill out about this. It’s not that big of a deal.”

You’d finished junior year, looking at the one book left, “Well, I’ve got one more. I might as well look through it, just in case.”

“Be my guest.” Johnny laid back down again, putting his headphones in his ears.

You carefully studied each and every face, trying to match his to one of them. On one of the middle pages, when you could feel vertigo start setting in, you saw him. Doing a double-take, you squinted to look closely at the picture. The eyes, the nose, the cheekbones. That was WinWin, in the same school uniform as everybody else. And of course they had decided to omit names in the yearbook for that year, so there was no way you could find him in the other ones.

“Oh.” You looked at it longer, taking in the brown hair he had in the picture, probably his natural hair color. “Guess I haven’t seen everyone in this town, then.”

Feeling changed, you stood up and left Johnny’s room, throwing another thank you to him over your shoulder.

* * *

The next day, you thankfully didn’t have to open the café, coming in right before the lunch rush when the building was practically devoid of patrons. Donghyuck and Mark were already there, and you didn’t hide your scowl at the former as you joined them behind the counter. He grimaced sheepishly as he held out a bag of money to you, “Here. My tips from yesterday… sorry for being so late.”

You sighed, pushing the young boy’s hand away, “Keep your money, Hyuck. Just don’t do it again, you fuckhead.”

“Of course.” Donghyuck bowed respectfully, stuffing his bag of money in his back pocket.

Jaemin and Jeno came in soon, and as you worked beside the three boys taking and making customer’s orders, you barely thought of much else. Especially not of your mysterious customer from yesterday.

“Hi, what can I get for you?” You asked as brightly as you could to the man that had walked up to the counter, still putting away the change from the previous customer.

“What do you recommend?” He asked, and when you looked up at him from the register, you realized who it was.

“Oh, hello, WinWin.” Swallowing your pride, you knew that you had to set yesterday straight. “I’m sorry, for how I spoke to you yesterday. It was out of line and disrespectful of me.”

“I’m not angry at you, Y/N.” He gave you a close-lipped smile as he reviewed the board again. WinWin was taking far too long, you realized as you started hearing the complaints of the businessmen and businesswomen behind him who were on break and really needed their fix before enduring five or six more hours of work.

You bounced on your feet anxiously as you gave a suggestion, “Uh, our vanilla chai is always a favorite, and you can get it with or without whip cream.”

“That sounds nice. I’ll have a medium, with whip cream.” He finally decided, and you furiously scribbled it down on the cup before practically chucking it at Mark’s face.

WinWin again paid you in a very large bill, which irked you now since it’d be longer to make his change. You thrust it in his hand with another saccharine smile, barely even registering that he put it all in the tip jar again, even more than last time. Jeno took over the register then, and you set to work on helping Jaemin, Mark, and Donghyuck made the orders. After deftly swirling the whip cream on top of the latte Hyuck had just handed you, you looked at the name to call it out towards the awaiting crowd.

“Vanilla chai for WinWin!” You said, easily able to find his baby pink hair amongst the dark black hair filling the waiting area.

He stepped forward, thanking you as he took the cup. You were handed another finished drink then, calling out their name, making WinWin step aside to allow the other patron to grab their drink. Donghyuck gave you a drink that needed whip cream and cinnamon, and when you looked up from finishing it, WinWin was gone. But you had a feeling that the steaming mug at the top of the garbage can was the one you had just handed him.


	2. [two]

WinWin started visiting your coffee shop frequently, having learned not to come during your rush hours. When he was the only customer, you would often chat by the register or whatever table he chose. You’d never had a regular that you liked this much, most were either nuisances or you were just apathetic to them. Your co-workers had also noticed the pink-haired man who came whenever you were there, and always asked for your recommendation for a drink.

Mark had even become so bold as to tease you about him, earning a warning thwack on the back of his head. Thankfully he didn’t cry, just muttered an apology. You gave him 60% of the tips from that shift as a silent apology of your own. Although, his teasing wasn’t entirely wrong, you _had_ exchanged numbers with WinWin at some point, and met up a few times outside of the coffee shop. It wasn’t safe to say what your relationship was, aside from hesitant friends.

This time you had opened by yourself again, already serving Mr. Lee, the triathlon athlete, and the four speed walking moms when the bell dinged, and the door opened again, revealing your favorite regular to you. WinWin’s eyes were already glued to the menu board and hands stuffed in his pockets. And not his regulars jeans, this time he was in much more formal attire, looking a lot like the businessmen you served during the week.

“Ooh, fancy.” You grinned, admiring how he had even styled his hair away from his forehead a little bit more, revealing more of his handsome face to you. “What’s the occasion, WinWin?”

Half a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he looked down from the menu board to your face, and you couldn’t help but admit that your heart fluttered a little bit when he did so. He rubbed uneasily at the back of his neck, “I’ll tell you in a second. First, what do you recommend?”

Now your interest was piqued, but you nonetheless gave him your opinion, “We finally started on those pumpkin spice lattes everyone talks about, but honestly the raspberry mocha is still way better.”

“Raspberry mocha it is.” He opened his wallet to give you the money without even waiting for you to give him his total. As always, you made the change, and he immediately deposited it into your empty tip jar.

“You can’t buy my affection, WinWin.” You teased, eyeing the large tip he had once again left you.

“If you’re going to be so ungrateful, I’ll take it back—” He had finally learned your manners of speaking after a while, reaching towards the glass jar to jest back at you.

“Once it’s in the tip jar, no take-backs!”

“What kind of shitty customer service.” WinWin tsked, retracting his hand and stuffing it back in his pants pocket.

You flashed him a grin, twirling around to start making his drink, “So what are you doing today? I’m getting off in an hour.”

“Well, I’m hanging around here for an hour, then after that, whatever you’d like.”

“Sweet! We can go rob a bank.”

“Your sense of humor is something.”

“I knew you wouldn’t be down. We can go to the park, _I guess._ ” You sighed in melodramatic exasperation, putting the finishing touches on his drink. Walking up to the counter, you still called out his name and order, despite him being the only customer in the shop.

WinWin accepted his cup, leaning against the counter as he took the first sip. As per usual, he closed his eyes for a moment to analyze the drink, “Hm.”

And he walked over to the trash can, disposing of the still steaming cup.

“If you hate the drinks here so much, why do you come here almost every day?” You scoffed, shaking your head at your friend’s actions. They didn’t bother you _that_ much, just confused you.

“To see if I’d eventually find something here I liked.” He rejoined you, propping up his head with a hand to look at you attentively. “I did.”

“You’ve thrown out every drink I’ve given you.”

“Yeah.” The boy was still looking at you, and you could feel the blood rush to your ears, biting back a smile.

“WinWin, was that flirting?” You asked accusatorily, watching triumphantly as he became bashful as well, hiding his face in his hands for a moment.

“Maybe. Was it bad?”

With an affectionate smile, you shook your head, “No, it was good.”

He grinned awkwardly, cheeks turning the same color as his hair, “Do you think, we could change the park… to uh, to be our first date?”

“It’s a date.”

“Okay, cool,” He was absolutely beaming now, and the bell above the door dinging brought you out of the happy moment.

Walking back over to see if it was a customer, it was actually Donghyuck, who was fifteen minutes early to his shift. He eyed WinWin as he walked behind the counter, tied his apron, and wiggled his eyebrows at you. You gave him a ‘don’t you dare’ look as you also handed him a rag, “Could you wipe down the counters? I’ll get the tables.”

“Good morning to you too, boss.” He took the rag from you.

“I’m not your boss, just your manager.”

“Good morning to you too, manager.”

“Good _fucking_ morning, Hyuck!” You said in an overly chipper tone, giving him an eye roll too.

“Thank you.” Donghyuck grinned, turning back to the task you had assigned him.

You started with the ones closest to the counter, humming along to the music playing over the loudspeaker as you went. Finally, you had made your way to WinWin’s table, smiling gratefully as he lifted up his arms to let you wipe the entire tabletop.

“So, why the formal clothes?” You questioned, smoothing out his collar as you leaned against the table beside his chair.

WinWin shifted uncomfortably, cheeks turning pink again, “I’d sound lame if I said it was meant to be a confidence-booster for asking you out, right?”

“A little bit,” You admitted with a satisfied smile. “But there’s nothing wrong with being a little lame sometimes.”

“Manager Y/N! Excuse me, Manager Y/N! Could you stop flirting and help me with the steamer?” Donghyuck yelled out for you, and you were now regretting not taking his tips the other day.

“Why can’t you do it yourself?” You called back over your shoulder, not moving from your position.

“I’m a minor! I’m not allowed to deal with dangerous equipment!”

“That’s never stopped you before,” You scoffed, but nonetheless stood up, giving WinWin an apologetic smile before joining your coworker behind the counter again.

Replacing him in front of the machine that steamed the milk for you, you pinched his ear, eliciting yelps from him. You released his ear with an eye roll, turning the steamer on and starting the first batch, “You’re a little brat sometimes, you know that?”

“So you’ve told me many times.” Hyuck replied with humor in his voice, still cradling his ear. “But you haven’t denied it. You were flirting, right?”

“Why would I tell you that?”

“Just curious.”

Giving him a stern look you pushed him back into the storeroom, making sure the door was closed before you rounded on him, “How about you stop being curious when the shop is dead quiet, and our only patron can hear everything you’re saying?”

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

“You’re impossible.”

“But you love me.”

“I’d fire you if I could.”

After Jaemin had come to take over as acting manager, you took off your apron, officially clocking out for the day. “Don’t burn the shop down, I’ll see you boys tomorrow.” You said goodbye to them, giving each of them a hair ruffle.

WinWin had already stood up, waiting for you at the doors. Turning away from the two, you were happy to see that he was already holding the door open for you. As you thanked him, you could hear the whooping of the younger boys you were leaving, and shook your head, thankful when the door had closed behind you. You walked around the fountain with WinWin, admiring the grandeur of it, something your town could’ve only afforded hundreds of years ago when hopeful and wealthy benefactors had built it, hoping for it to boom. It never did, and they all moved to the town next door, which became a large and busy city while yours stayed small and quiet.

Some of the spray hit your cheek, and you moved away instinctually, the freak weather being cold again that day. Rubbing the cold water off your cheek, you kept your jacket sleeve on it in an attempt to warm it back up.

“Did you open by yourself again?” WinWin asked, trying initiate the conversation.

“Could we please not talk about that godforsaken place? I swear I’ve smelled so much coffee that my nostrils are burnt to death.” You groaned, shaking your head.

He chuckled, “Okay, we’ll talk about something else. What are you studying right now?”

“Sociology at Woodland Community. Not nearly rich or smart enough for the city university.”

“Don’t talk like that,” He frowned, elbowing your side.

You guessed he meant the part about you not being smart enough, laughing lightly, “Okay, I’m not _rich_ enough for the city university. Nothing else, just the money.”

“Better.”

“What about you, WinWin? What are you studying? And where?”

“Ah, stuff with energy, and quantum mechanics.”

Your eyebrows shot up, “Wow.”

“Well, I’m taking a year off right now,” He quickly added, trying to quell your interest. “Just trying to figure out what I actually want to do, where I want to be.”

“Fair enough. I don’t really know that either. All I’ve known is this town and that coffee shop for my whole life.”

“Do you want to travel? Live somewhere else?”

“Something like that. I don’t know, at least see something other than this park I’ve been to a million times.” You sighed, kicking a stone in said park that you had just arrived at.

“Unfortunately I can’t afford plane tickets out of here, but how about a day in the city?” WinWin suggested, seeing your dissatisfaction with your current settings. “Something other than this park.”

A grin came to your features as you hesitantly linked your arm with his, “That sounds like a fantastic idea, WinWin.”

* * *

After that successful first date with WinWin—which ended with you giving him a kiss on the cheek that left both your faces a bright pink—your relationship naturally grew and blossomed. You’d see him most days, outside of the shop primarily, because your coworkers had taken to poking fun at the both of you. Your whole family that lived both in your house and in the one next door had met him, and he’d even had the dreaded meeting with your older brother and eldest cousin. The result of which was Johnny and Taeil continually expressing their disbelief in how adorable your boyfriend was. _That_ was honestly more embarrassing than if they had tried to be scary and overprotective.

Today was a rare day where you were only working with Mark, and during a down time in your waves of customers, you gave WinWin permission to come visit you at work. As soon as you had sent the text giving him the okay, you couldn’t help but immediately brighten up, bouncing between your feet as you waited for him to arrive.

“Your boyfriend coming in?” Mark asked, noticing the change from your normal exhaustion of standing on your feet for five hours.

“Yeah. Don’t be weird, please.” You requested, busying yourself with tidying up the counters behind the register.

“He’s weirder than me.”

That was another thing your coworkers liked to poke fun at, WinWin’s strange tendencies. How he always throws out whatever drink he gets after one sip, the pink hair that they’ve never seen the natural roots of, the tight-lipped smile he often gave, how he usually gets hot drinks when it’s hot outside and cold drinks when it was cold outside, the fact that you didn’t know his real name, how he pays in large bills and gives you all the change in tips, the waving of his hand that they claim happens under the table as his other one holds yours across it when you would spend your ten-minute breaks with him. You could admit that your boyfriend wasn’t entirely normal, but nobody ever was, so you didn’t get why Jeno had told you that he “gets the heebie-jeebies” from him. And also Donghyuck had just straight up called him a fucking weirdo one time. He got a pinched ear for that one.

“He’s _quirky,_ Mark.” You countered, not trying to hide your annoyance with the boy.

The bell above the door rang, and you flicked your eyes up from the cups you were restacking, mouth breaking into a smile when you saw who it was. WinWin gave you a smile of his own, approaching the counter, “Morning, Y/N, Mark.”

Mark didn’t make eye contact with him, instead giving a small wave from where his eyes were glued to his phone. Not because there was anything interesting on it, he was looking at the same picture of a sunset you had seen on his phone ten minutes ago, but because despite being able to bring up how weird he thought WinWin was to _your_ face, he couldn’t even look _him_ in the face.

“Morning, WinWin!” You were still beaming, taking in his features as he inquisitively scanned the board. At this point you were sure he had it memorized, but he still liked to browse the options every time.

“What do you recommend?” He asked, like always.

“I’m pretty sure you’ve had everything on the board.”

“Could you make me something not on the board?”

“We don’t have any alcohol here.”

WinWin thankfully picked up on your joke, shaking his head affectionately, “I meant, surprise me. Put whatever in it, I’ll try it.”

“And hate it, I’m sure.”

“Oh but uh, could you make it cold?” He added. “Iced latte or something?”

“An iced latte? Seriously? WinWin, it is—” You took out your phone, holding up a finger to gesture for him to wait as you checked your weather app. “Okay, it’s not loading but it’s really buttfucking cold outside.”

“I’ll take my business somewhere that won’t judge me for my life choices.”

“I’m kidding, I’ll make your iced latte. You weirdo.” Taking his money, you quickly made the change, hearing it drop into the tip jar as you turned around to make his drink.

Mark watched as you worked, head tilted as he tried to figure out what you were making. You’d been meaning to try this recipe you’d had bouncing around in your head for a while, might as well make WinWin your test subject for it. Not that his palate would be very useful, as he apparently hated anything with a flavor. Pouring the finished drink over the ice, as he had requested, you slapped a lid on then handed it to him.

“Here, a Y/N Original.” You said as he accepted it, grabbing a straw from the counter.

You knew that he wouldn’t like it, but nonetheless you waited with bated breath as he brought the straw to his lips, taking a small sip. WinWin closed his eyes, considering the taste. And for the first time ever, took another sip. You watched with widened eyes as he took a long, smooth drink from the straw, gulping almost a third of it down in one go.

“Do you… like it?”

WinWin nodded, and your brows furrowed in confusion. You stuck a hand out, “Could I try it?”

He nodded and gave it back to you, a pleasant smile on his face as you yourself took a small sip. And immediately wanted to spit it back out, “Oh my god, WinWin! That’s horrible. Do you _actually_ like that?”

“Yeah,” Your boyfriend took the cup back, watching with amusement as you reached under the counter for your bottle of water, attempting to wash the wretched and offending taste out of your mouth.

“I put way too much raspberry flavoring in there, and—oh my god the liquid cane sugar might be burning a hole in my esophagus right now.” You chugged half the water bottle, feeling it crinkle right in your hand.

There were small giggles from behind the counter with you, and you rolled your eyes to look at Mark, who was enjoying your failure very much. And so was WinWin, as he kept on drinking that devil beverage you just made.

“So, what are you doing when you get off?”

“I have grocery lists to get through today.”

“Oh, okay. I guess I’ll see you after, then.” His voice was flat as he spoke, looking away from you wistfully.

The corner of your lips quirked up, “…You want to come with, don’t you?”

“What? No…”

“Oh come on, you love grocery shopping.”

“I do!” WinWin’s voice jumped with excitement, and you chuckled.

“I get off in like thirty, go find something to do until then.”

“I can’t stay here?”

“My aunt complains when people loiter here.”

“I’m a paying customer with a drink.”

“And _I’m_ telling you to go find something else to do for the next thirty minutes.” You retorted as you eyed the stream of college students coming in from their morning classes.

WinWin sighed, “Fine, fine. I’ll see you in thirty minutes then.”

“Bye, Winnie.” You squeezed his forearm, offering him one more smile before he left.

Mark spoke up then, “Why’d you make him leave?”

“Because Donghyuck and Jeno are about to come in.”

“Fair enough.”

* * *

Thirty minutes later, you finished up writing the last customer in line’s order, passing the cup off to Jeno before going in the back room to put your apron away, throw your jacket back on, and grab your backpack. You gave goodbyes to your coworkers as you pushed the door open, WinWin already waiting there. At first you were surprised at how warm your jacket was keeping you in the cold weather, until you realized that it wasn’t cold out anymore, and the walking you were doing had triggered sweat to start pouring out of every pore on your body.

“Oh and now it’s hot as hell outside?” You exclaimed at the sky in frustration, stripping your jacket off and stuffing it into your backpack.

WinWin bit back a laugh at your distress, having changed into the appropriate attire earlier. He offered a hand out to you to take, which you did gladly, stunned when you did so.

“Holy shit, your hands are cold!” You grabbed both of his hands tighter in your grip, tempted to just put them all over like an ice pack, but thankfully your brain reminded you of how weird that would be, and vetoed the decision.

Your boyfriend seemed amused as you held them firmly, shaking your hands off to move one of his up to your forehead, the back of the other pressing against the side of your neck. Both areas were accumulating sweat as you walked, yet he didn’t seem to mind as his own smooth, dry skin was cooling you down.

“I swear, Winnie, you’re an angel.” You sighed happily, a sheepish but delighted smile on his lips as the both of you continued walking in your somewhat awkward position.

When you got to the grocery store, you immediately reveled in the air conditioning, stopping in the shopping cart lobby just to cool down for a moment. WinWin grabbed a cart for you, and you put your bag down in the child seat before bringing your phone out for your shopping lists. One was for your own home and family while the other was of some specialty things for the shop that your aunt needed, and couldn’t buy wholesale like everything else.

You chatted about your day with WinWin, happy to just be with him, even if you were doing something so mundane as grocery shopping. He seemed embarrassed when you mentioned that your cousin had called him adorable, and you grinned as you reached out to pinch his indignantly pink cheek. He huffed, grabbing the hand that was pinching and lacing his fingers with yours instead, his other continuing to push the cart for you. After causing the poor cashier a headache by paying for items separately with different cards, you and WinWin left the store, each of you carrying four bags. It was times like these that you were thankful for a small town, because it wasn’t too long of a walk to your house.

Wrangling with the door handle, you finally managed to open it, pushing it in for both of you to enter. WinWin went ahead of you, and you kicked the door closed behind you. You yelled out into the seemingly empty house, “I’m home!”

Two familiar heads popped up from the couch, bright eyes peering over the back to observe you and your boyfriend setting all the bags down, “Hi.”

“Hello!” You replied cheerily. “Jisung, Taeil, come help.”

“We don’t live here.” Jisung retorted, earning an eye roll from you.

“And yet you eat all of our food. Help, now.”

Your cousins begrudgingly stood up, joining you and WinWin in putting the new food away in the proper places. Jisung eyed your boyfriend, and you still couldn’t figure out their dynamic. It wasn’t that they disliked each other, they just… didn’t mesh very well from what you could tell. Taeil on the other hand was already joking around with him, he had always been the friendlier and more easy-going one between him and his younger brother.

Once all the groceries were put away, you went to thank your cousins and instead saw them both giving you the most heart-wrenching puppy-dog eyes. With a huff, you asked, “Alright, what do you want?”

“There’s no leftovers in your fridge.” Taeil hinted, earning another sigh.

“Fine, go watch TV or whatever, WinWin and I will make you something.”

“You’re the best, Y/N!” Jisung kissed the top of your head before racing his brother to the couch, followed by grunts and arguing.

As you cooked, you fell into almost autopilot, giving WinWin the occasional order as you made a dish that you’d prepared dozens of times before. WinWin was asking how finely you wanted something chopped, and as you went to answer, you grabbed the handle of a pan. You only realized that you’d forgotten your pot holder when the warmth on your hand turned into a searing pain.

“Fuck!” You screeched, ripping your hand away from the scalding metal.

Biting on your lip to bite back your curses and yelps, your vision was already blurring with tears. You’d held onto it way too long before registering the heat, the burning pain across your sensitive flesh being magnified by a tenfold than if you had let it go sooner. The tears fell freely down your cheek as your other hand clasped your wrist, and you felt a familiarly cool hand grab your shoulder, another rubbing your back soothingly. WinWin was guiding you over to the sink, turning on the faucet before coaxing you to stick it under the stream. You immediately whimpered at the feeling, jerking your wounded hand away from the equally steaming water. Your boyfriend cursed under his breath, switching it to the cold setting. But you were still sobbing, the waves of broiling agony radiating out from your palm seemed to only be gaining intensity.

WinWin muttered something else, and through your fuzzy sight you could just make out his hand hovering over your burned one, delicate fingers deftly fluttering around. And through your confusion, you could feel the fire boiling across your flesh die down. It kept receding, the nerves in your hands calming down as the pain was simply fading away. You blinked the last few tears from your eyes, staring in utter bewilderment at your now plain and healthy hand. WinWin seemed to also be surprised, but less so at your healed hand, and more at himself as he cursed lowly again.

You looked away from your hand, turning your attention over to your boyfriend’s regretful face. He was avoiding eye contact, looking very busy with turning off the faucet as he was clearly trying to avoid the fact that it seemed like he just magically healed your burn.

“WinWin.” You whispered, making sure your cousins couldn’t hear you, which you were sure they couldn’t due to the impossibly loud video games they were now playing with Johnny. “May I kindly ask, uhm, what the hell?”

He chewed on the inside of his cheek for a moment, hand letting yours go to rub at the back of his neck, “Could we talk somewhere else?”

“Yeah.” You moved away from him to turn off the stovetop, leaving the half-made meal scattered around the kitchen.

Walking into the living room, all three boys perked up, clearly expecting that you were going to tell them the food was ready. Instead, you flexed your newly healed hand a couple of times as you explained flatly, “I have to go do something important. Johnny, could you finish the food, please?”

“Of course,” He frowned as he stood, looking between your own anxious face and the equally apprehensive one of WinWin. “What’s happening?”

“We forgot something on Aunt Yoojin’s list, and she’ll kill me if I don’t bring it in before the end of the day.”

“I don’t believe that… but I’m not going to pry.” Your brother sighed, “Are you going to be home for dinner?”

“Just leave me a bowl in the microwave, okay?”

“Alright, bye.” He gave you a hug and pecked your temple, the amount of affection catching you off-guard. Johnny was only ever like this when he had to say goodbye before he went off to his big fancy state college and you stayed home for community college. Why was he treating this simple goodbye like those?

As you walked with WinWin, you wanted to ask so many questions, but you forced yourself not to. He had a destination in mind for where he would be comfortable discussing this with you, and you knew that you had to respect that. The both of you were nearly silent, and you felt your chest slowly constricting and releasing as you thought about how empty your hand was swinging _next_ to his instead of holding it. He was taking you further away from the center of the town, towards the area where the bigger houses built for the rich town sponsors were situated, each with dozens of acres attached to them and most abandoned.

You finally got the courage to ask, “Where are we going?”

“My house.” Your companion responded, and you looked at him with curiosity. Never in the months that you’d known him had you been to, been invited to, or even _seen_ where he lived.

It was then that you left the cracked sidewalk spread throughout the town and instead found yourself on an overgrown, worn, grassy path. In front of you was a hill, and as your feet continued carrying you beside WinWin, you felt an eerie familiarity about the place. At the top of the hill was an old house that had been standing here for as long as you could feasibly remember. When it had first been built, you could see how it could have been a cozy and quaint house, but instead vines choked the ancient pillars and with even a single gust of wind, the entire building groaned in protest, as if it could fall over at any moment.

Goosebumps excited along your arms, and not from the breeze that had already flown by. This house had never given you any sort of comforting feelings, and the only thing keeping you grounded at this point was knowing that WinWin was beside you. But did he really live _here_?

“Here we are,” He finally spoke up, fishing a key out of his pocket as he stepped up onto the front porch.

Despite being afraid that it wouldn’t be able to support both of your weights, you followed him anyway, fidgeting with your shirt hem as he unlocked the front door, gesturing for you to enter first. The inside felt a little homier than the outside, but still gave you a hazy, surreal feeling. You had entered into the living area, where all the windows were open, allowing the breeze outside to kick up a few pages of an open book. A book which WinWin quickly went to slam closed.

There were shelves made of just a few wooden planks and old metal bolts, holding murky glass bottles, each filled with various withered and dried herbs or flowers. The dull pinks and purples of the dehydrated petals transfixed your eyes for a moment before they continued observing the room. The rug underneath your feet was an elegant lilac, embroidered with what seemed to be gold thread made to be the outlines of various constellations, illuminated mostly by the skylight above, whose film of dirt made any sunbeams coming through hesitant and uncertain. Draped across the couple chairs and small couch were quilts and knitted blankets of varying muted colors, all looking well-used but freshly washed. In fact, nothing seemed to be dirty at all, despite what you’d think upon first glance.

“I thought this house was abandoned.” You finally breathed out in awe, turning to look at WinWin with humor in your features. “My friends and I would dare each other to run and touch it when we were like, nine. You live here?”

“Yeah, my whole life.” WinWin replied casually, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his jeans.

You shook your head in disappointment. He was still lying to you.

“I still don’t believe that crap, WinWin. Even if I did find you in my brother’s yearbook.”

“You looked me up in a yearbook?”

“Mhm. Coincidentally in the year where they omitted names.”

He went to open his mouth, probably to give you another lie, but you caught his eyes first. He faltered, reading the clear exasperation on your face. You weren’t going to put up with any more bullshit from him now.

“WinWin’s not your real name.” You declared, crossing your arms as you waited for a reply.

“No, it’s not.” He admitted, visibly becoming anxious and almost… fearful. As you noticed the change in his demeanor from just apprehensive to genuine fear, you felt your own attitude evolve.

With a much softer tone than before, you asked, “Would you be comfortable telling me your real one?”

“Sicheng. Dong Sicheng.”

“Sicheng.” You tested out the name, repeating it a few times to see how it felt in your mouth. “Dong Sicheng.”

“That’s me.” He chuckled awkwardly, bringing his hands out from his pockets to wring them together.

That reminded you of your own hand, and why you were really there. You unfolded your arms to look at it, lightly running your fingertip over the perfectly healthy skin. WinWin— _Sicheng_ —took it upon himself to initiate the explanation for that one.

“Magick.” Sicheng coughed out, and your eyes flashed up to look at him inquisitively. “I’ve uh—I’ve got magical, you know, abilities.”

“If anything else had happened I’d call absolute bullshit. But…” You clenched and unclenched your newly healed hand. “That makes sense, yeah.”

“Really?”

“Or I’m high from whatever crazy herbs you got in here.”

He finally laughed, relaxing a little more now that you were joking again, “No, nothing like that in here.”

You were still studying him, chewing on the inside of your cheek thoughtfully. Sicheng’s pink hair was a little tousled, his mouth pursed in a half-smile, eyes shifting from your face to the floor apprehensively, and his hands were uselessly hanging at his sides. He stood tall in the middle of the room, and no matter how hard you tried, you couldn’t turn him into the mysterious and enigmatic man that first came into your shop, even after learning about his ‘magick’ or whatever. He was still your awkward, adorable, albeit still weird and confusing, WinWin. Or rather, Sicheng now.

Eventually, you spoke, “You’re damn lucky you’re cute.”

His features became a hopeful smile, “Oh?”

“Come here.” You held both of your hands out, clearly waiting for him to take them in his.

Once he had, you pulled him closer, looking up at him with a fond smile as you laced your fingers together on one hand. Craning your neck up, you took your other hand to the back of his neck, bringing his lips down to meet yours in the middle. If you were a cheesy kind of person, you might have said that it felt like magic when you kissed. But you weren’t. (Even though it really did).


	3. [three]

It was maybe three months or so after you’d learned Sicheng’s secret, and you could only marvel at how much and how little had changed at the same time. You still went on dates, got harassed by your coworkers, held hands, kissed, spent most days together, hung out with your younger cousins, and Johnny and Taeil still doted on ‘WinWin.’ But at the same time, you could see how much more relaxed and truly _himself_ that your boyfriend was. 

A lot of his quirks were explained now—except the whole ‘finding the most disgusting drink on the planet delicious’ thing—and he seemed to be able to open up to you more. Jisung had even commented on it, in his own way, finally saying that he liked ‘WinWin.’ 

And now you didn’t always have to hang out at your house, in the city, or the park. He had taken to inviting you over to his place nowadays, much to your delight. While you were there you got to freely ask him questions about his magick and the like, and he had even demonstrated some things for you: changing his hair color, eye color, growing a small sprout from one of the cracks in his floorboards in just a few moments. It wasn’t quite the flashy, extravagant magic you’d seen in Harry Potter as a child, it was much more subtle, softer, and just very, very _Sicheng._

The only thing off-limits were questions about where he really came from, or his family. He had mentioned them of his own volition in passing but would tense up whenever you directly asked about them. All you knew was that he had a mom, a dad, a brother, and some cousins. You were able to extrapolate that he had aunts and uncles too, from the fact that he had cousins. Making an educated guess that he was estranged from them for some reason, you decided to just leave it alone, focusing on the ‘here and now,’ or ‘there and future’ kind of questions instead.

This particular afternoon, you were at your aunt’s coffee shop, having just finished your first lunch rush with your newest hire. Kun had walked into the shop with your aunt this morning, introducing himself politely and listening earnestly as you walked him through everything. You’d found out a few things about the personable and hard-working man; he was majoring in astrophysics at the big fancy college in the next city over, needed extra cash because he was planning on renting out an apartment, and liked to do magic tricks. Thinking only of Sicheng, you had replied humorously that he should show you sometime.

Almost as if on schedule, the bell rang, and in walked an ever-familiar figure. You immediately perked up, grinning widely and waiting for him to near the counter before greeting him.

“Hello, WinWin!” You greeted him cheerily, remembering how he had requested that you keep calling him that in front of other people. Even though you often got tongue-tied nowadays, it was kind of nice having something that only you knew about him, that only you called him, when the two of you were in private. It made every time you said his name even more intimate.

He didn’t even give you a reply, narrowed eyes focused on the man beside you. Assuming just plain suspicion, you introduced your employee, “This is our new hire, Kun. He goes to college in the city, majoring in astrophysics. Kun, this is one of my regulars, WinWin.”

“Regular?” WinWin gave you a pointed look, as if to tell you that he wasn’t satisfied with how you introduced him.

Rolling your eyes, you added on quietly, “And my boyfriend.”

One of Kun’s eyebrows shot up, seeming very amused at this revelation. He turned to the other man with a bright smile, “Nice to meet you… WinWin.”

“Yeah. You too.” Your boyfriend was more than eager to stop talking to Kun, instead addressing you as he went to order. “Iced and medium today, please.”

“Alright, one medium iced demon drink coming up.” You shook your head with a fond smile, holding your hand out for his money, making the change, handing it back, and watching as he dropped it into your tip jar. Something else that hadn’t changed either, and you reminded yourself to ask him where he was getting all this money the next time you went to his house.

Kun was surprised at the large tip, and you grabbed his arm and a medium cup to drag him to the back counter to start making Sicheng’s order. “He always puts all of his change in the tip jar.” You explained quietly, starting on the drink.

“Is that how he got you?” Kun asked teasingly, and you rolled your eyes.

“No, he didn’t buy my affection. But I’m not saying it didn’t help.” With that, you changed the topic, showing your employee how to make his specialty drink. “Alright so, one day I accidentally made this absolutely disgusting hell-drink, but WinWin really likes it for some reason. So now he orders it every time he comes in. Just in case he comes in when I’m not here, I’ll show you how to make it.”

As you prepared it, you showed Kun how to use each piece of machinery, the techniques, and even the correct ratio of ice to drink. The finishing touch was slapping a lid on it and holding it out for Sicheng to take. He thanked you, popping a straw into the top and taking a grateful sip.

“Hey, I was thinking takeout at my place tonight.” He offered as he leaned against the counter, one of his perpetually chilly hands inching towards yours. “Unless your aunt put you on night shift again.”

“She didn’t.” You informed him with a smile, glancing down at his fingers that were now gently grazing yours. “I’ll be there at six?”

“Six-thirty? I’ve got to pick up the food first.”

“Six-fifteen.”

“Guess I’ll have to sprint back from the restaurant, then.”

“Guess so.”

With an adoring smile, Sicheng leaned over to kiss your forehead before starting towards the door, “See you then.”

“Bye.” You were left with an absolutely lovestruck grin on your lips as you watched him leave.

Kun’s voice startled you from your rosy haze, “You two are pretty serious?”

You turned to look at him curiously, readjusting your baby coral apron habitually, “What do you mean?”

“Just—I’m not actually sure. It’s just nice to see you know, two people in love.”

Leaning back against the counter, you faced Kun, watching him for several moments. Finally, you declared, “You’re weird.”

“Wha—”

“Don’t worry, you’ll fit in just fine around here.”

* * *

“You don’t like Kun.” You announced through a mouthful of lo mein as you sat cross-legged on Sicheng’s small couch, knee touching his.

He nearly choked on his rice, setting his chopsticks down to stare at you incredulously, “What makes you say that?”

“Uh, everything that happened at the coffee shop. You don’t even treat Hyuck like that.”

“Do I really treat Donghyuck badly?”

“You’re changing the subject, Sicheng.”

Your boyfriend sighed, looking down at his lap shamefully, “It’s just… you know. He’s a dude, that’s not like related to you, or five years younger than you and in high school, and…”

Your jaw dropped before it turned into a victorious grin, “Are you really admitting to being jealous?”

At his lack of a response, you took his silence as a confirmation, holding back a chortle as you set your food down on the small coffee table. Extending a hand out, you fondly brushed some of his hair out of his face to get him to look at you, content when he did so.

“Sicheng,” You gently poked him between the eyes. “You’re dumb. I love _you_ , that’s it. End of story.”

A relieved smile came to his face before he agreed, “Right. I love you too. End of story.”

He closed his hand then, holding the upturned fist out towards you. With little grandeur, he delicately opened his fingers to reveal a small bundle of beautiful, small, and blue flowers growing in his palm. Gingerly, you reached out to accept them, recalling their name, “Forget-me-nots.”

There was a knock at the front door, and the both of you immediately fell silent. Sicheng hesitantly stood up, standing still as he waited for a moment. When the deep, resounding knock came again, he gave the top of your head a reassuring pat as he made his way towards the door. You could see a figure through the blue and purple stained glass but couldn’t make out any distinctive features to give you any clue as to who it was. Sicheng gave you one more look, gesturing for you to stay back.

You tucked yourself further into the corner of the couch, just out of view of the front door. You still craned your neck to peer past the wall, curious as to who exactly was there. You knew that your family members generally knew where Sicheng lives, but there was no reason for them to come interrupting your night together.

He opened the door with a wailing creak of the hinges that you always begged him to oil, voice cold as he addressed the definitely unwelcome visitor, “Leave.”

“I just came for dinner.” The other, much cheerier voice was familiar. And not in a good way.

Leaning over, your foreboding suspicions were confirmed. Kun was standing on Sicheng’s doorstep, and you couldn’t imagine a single _good_ reason for him to be there. Everything in your being was telling you that this was bad news, that you should run, that every outcome would end with harm to you if you didn’t leave _now._ And yet, your bottom was still firmly planted on the couch. And not in the ‘petrified with fear’ way, but as in, you physically couldn’t leave the couch. Your body wasn’t responding to any kind of urging to move, staying in your criss-cross sitting position, hand hovering over your lap, forget-me-nots resting in your petrified palm.

“Go home.” Sicheng’s voice was stone cold as you quickly became even more panicked at the fact that you had been reduced to a living statue.

“Not without you, Sicheng.” Kun requested, and you were now getting the notion that today was not the first day the two men had met. Especially since he knew your boyfriend’s real name.

Terrified that you couldn’t move, you found that you could at least speak, calling for him weakly. Sicheng abandoned the door, rushing to your side as he immediately concluded what was happening, giving Kun a glare as the other man stepped further into the quaint house, “Kun, this isn’t necessary.”

“Will Y/N run?”

“You have no right to hold her here, Kun.”

“Lighten up, _WinWin_.” Kun shrugged, and you could feel the invisible restraints on your body fade away, hesitantly unfolding your legs. “You’re taking this way too seriously.”

“Yeah, it’s not that serious for us.” Sicheng was still glaring at him, gently rubbing your arm as he subtly angled himself between the two of you. “But Y/N’s never had a charm put on her.”

“Really?” He seemed impressed, tilting his head. “So she’s like… _actually_ into you?”

You took it upon yourself to counter this time, “Yes. I am.”

Kun addressed your boyfriend again, “You think she’d be able to make the trip?”

“No way is Y/N going there, or me.” He replied firmly, squeezing your forearm, and you had a feeling that it was more to reassure himself than you.

“Your mom doesn’t want me going back without you.”

“Then stay on this side until you rot, I don’t care.”

“If I stay, I’m going to stay right here and keep bothering you two.”

Sicheng sighed, “Fine, fine. I’ll go back and visit my mom. But that’s it, just a visit. And just me.”

“Your mom is going to want to see Y/N too.”

“She’s not going.”

“Hey!” You interjected with a scowl. “What if I want to go?”

“You don’t, trust me.” He replied, but you were stubborn.

“I do.”

Kun grinned, “Then it’s settled. Let’s go.”

* * *

Much to Sicheng’s constant protesting, you still ended up in his backyard, facing a particularly desolate corner of the old wooden fence surrounding it. You would be questioning what was happening right now, but at this point half of you knew it was going to be something magick, and the other half of you was too tired to care all that much. Kun stepped forward first, removing one of the planks that had been completely stripped of its screws and paint. He then moved a few others over before sticking his hand through the open space. It became a gradation of opacity, nearly translucent at the tips and gaining mass closer towards his elbow. Your eyebrows shot up as you watched him pull his hand back out of it again.

Turning to Sicheng, you cocked an eyebrow up, “You neglected to tell me about the portal in your backyard.”

“It’s not a portal.” Your boyfriend sighed, hating whenever you compare his magick to anything that you’d seen in the media.

“Then what is it?”

“A gateway between two sides of the Earth.”

“Yeah, hate to break it to you, but… that’s a portal.”

Kun was amused at your bickering, but nonetheless ushered you two towards the ‘gateway.’ Sicheng paused as he had just the toe of his shoe peeking into it, looking at you ruefully, “Y/N, are you sure you want to come? Your body might not be able to handle the gateway’s cosmic energy, and if it does, then you’ll be faced with something even worse.”

Your brows furrowed, not liking the sound of it, “What’s that?”

“My family.”

“You’re taking too long, dude.” Kun complained, trying to push on the other man’s shoulder, but Sicheng slapped his hand away.

“You’ve met mine, I think it’s fair that I meet yours now.” You retorted, grabbing his hand to lace your fingers with his, finding comfort in the familiar feeling. “And the uh, part where my body might not survive,” You shrugged, “Shit happens. I’ve got you, though.”

He let out a cynical chuckle, “You’re insane.”

“She’s made up her mind, let’s go!” The man standing off the side was getting even more impatient now, pushing the small of your back this time.

You tugged Sicheng’s hand along with you, stepping into what you were definitely going to call a portal. It was possibly the strangest you’d ever felt. The ‘portal’ wasn’t necessarily cold, or warm. There was no sensation on your skin. You weren’t sure if you were breathing or not, or if oxygen mattered in that moment. Your chest felt like it was swelling and being crushed at the same time, while your brain was in overdrive and at the same time absolutely void of any thoughts. The absolute nothing you heard was garish on your ears, and you gritted your teeth in an attempt to make any kind of sound. But your teeth didn’t grit, they merely… touched. You found that when you tried to look at Sicheng, there was blinding brightness and desolate darkness in your vision. Were your eyes open or closed?

You were weak, you could feel it. Your grip on Sicheng’s hand was limp, and your hand would’ve dropped his if he wasn’t holding yours so tightly, the pressure tangible in your bones. Your foot collided with something, sending you tumbling out of his grip and onto something that you guessed was a hard surface, judging by the pain radiating from inside your knee and elbow. The nerves in your epidermis were still unresponsive, you could only feel the injury deep inside of you. You didn’t even have enough of your bearings to be able to tell if you were slipping in and out of consciousness or not, if time was stopped or still speeding by, or even if you were _real_.

Then suddenly, all of your senses were kicked into high gear. Your skin was on fire, your brain melting into the crevices of your skull, lungs fighting for air, eardrums overloading on sounds, vision splitting into three, and every single cell in your body feeling as thought it was being ripped apart and reassembled every second. An impossibly excruciating feeling. The only thing that felt okay, that felt normal, was your hand, the one holding Sicheng’s. You squeezed it. Once, twice, three times. Pause. Once, twice, three times. Pause.

You made a rhythm for yourself, trying to match your breathing with his pulse that you could feel in your hypersensitive fingertips. Or maybe that was your own. A sound came to your ears, but it sounded foreign. It came again, repeating itself over and over again. You finally recognized not as some foreign and unknowable noise, but as your name. Being said by Sicheng. And he sounded close, as if he was right by your face.

Through the equally boiling tears falling down your red-hot cheeks, you became aware that your eyes were, in fact, closed, and forced your eyelids to open. You were squinting now, just able to make out the pink hair and dark eyes hovering in front of you. It was Sicheng, still repeating your name, his tone becoming a little more relieved when he saw your eyes opening. Your forehead was cooling down, and you realized that the hand that wasn’t holding yours was pressing against your absolutely broiling skin, even colder than it normally was. He must be trying to heal whatever horrors were happening to your body, like when you burned your hand grabbing the pot.

Another foreign sound floated to your ears, but you couldn’t process much more than what was right in front of you, as you were able to open your eyes even more, impelling the hand hanging limply at your side to reach up and grab at Sicheng’s arm. This seemed to encourage him even more, clutching your hand tighter in reassurance as his other travelled down your face that was gradually becoming less enflamed.

As your senses started to dull to their normal levels, you became aware of the fact that you weren’t lying down on the ground as you had previously assumed, but instead on some kind of soft cushion, either a bed or couch. Sicheng was kneeling beside you, and you let go of his hand to attempt to sit up. He immediately started fussing over you again, reluctantly helping you up into a sitting position. It was a couch that you were on. You looked away from his fretful features to instead observe where exactly you were. There were other people standing behind Sicheng, mostly blocking your view of the room you were laying in. You only recognized one as Kun, who seemed to have been the most worried for you out of them, judging by how relieved he was as you curiously looked around. Even though it was his idea originally for you to come along.

There were three more boys standing beside him, one much taller than the others. They were watching you with their heads tilted, while the woman beside them seemed even more interested. But not so much in you, but in your boyfriend, who was still repeating the same question you had yet to answer.

“Y/N, Y/N, look at me,” Sicheng pleaded, and you obliged, giving him a sleepy smile. “Are you okay?”

“For the most part, yeah.” You reassured him, moving again to try to stand up.

He sighed, standing first to help you up again, keeping a tight grip on your arm to make sure you weren’t going to fall over. Which you knew you wouldn’t, you felt almost completely fine now, but nonetheless you let him care for you. He’d end up being even more anxious if he didn’t.

Sicheng now turned his focus to the people in front of you, who you guessed to be his family. His voice was aggressively apathetic, “You saw us. Can we go back now?”

The woman pursed her lips, “Sicheng, we haven’t seen you in… three hundred years. You can’t just _leave_ as soon as you get here.”

You could feel your eyes nearly pop out of your head when you heard that, looking at him in absolute bewilderment. But you kept your mouth closed, that was something to address at a later time. Not when he was in the middle of a confrontation and was the most agitated you’d ever seen him. Including when he had asked you out or even when he revealed his magic to you. He was standing deadly still, but you could hear his quick and shallow breaths, and feel his fingers twitching against your skin.

“Fine, we’ll stay for a _little bit_.” Sicheng ceded, clearly not happy about the situation. “But I’m taking Y/N around the town alone first, and then we’re going to bed. You can harass us at breakfast tomorrow.”

And without waiting for any kind of reply, he laced his fingers with yours to tug you towards the front door of the large house that you were in. Walking beside him, you admired the simple elegance of the town. The houses weren’t much different from your own, just with cleaner lines, and designed to be a little bit more modern. The roads were all paved with stone that had been smoothed over from years of use, and you could hear the laughter of some children as they played in a nearby park. It reminded you a lot of your own little town, but everything seemed just a _little_ better. The grass was a _little_ greener, trees a _little_ taller, houses a _little_ nicer, sky a _little_ bluer, fountain a _little_ grander.

“So, uhm. Three hundred years? Are you immortal or something?” You finally broke down and asked what had been bugging you since his mother mentioned it. “And what exactly is this place?”

“It’s—I don’t even want to call it an alternate dimension. It’s an alternate… version of your hometown, I suppose. There’s a lot of the same stuff, but some things are just slightly different.”

“And the whole immortality thing?”

“We’re not immortal or anything. We can live for thousands of years on this side. But, time passes differently here. I could live here for twenty-five thousand years, but on the other side I’d only live for eighty or so. Three hundred years here is about a year and a half on the other side.” He reassured you, and you could feel your brain turning to mush again, but this time just trying to understand the implications of that.

“So, you’ve been gone for almost as long as I’ve known you?”

“About six months more, but yeah.”

“So, you _didn’t_ actually go to high school with my brother during his senior year.”

“Correct.”

“That’s what I thought,” You shook your head affectionately, still observing the townspeople. “Is everybody here a… witch? wizard? warlock? What do you go by, exactly?”

Sicheng chuckled, “None of the above, we’re just people here. But yes, everybody does possess some degree of magick here.”

“I know you hate me bringing this up but… more like Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings?”

He sighed, but nonetheless answered your question, “You’re either born with the ability—like my family—or you can learn it. Around here, those who learn it are respected much more than people who are born with it. Something about honoring hard work.”

This intrigued you. You’d asked before how Sicheng was able to perform magick, but he mainly gave credit to his natural proclivity for it, cosmic energies and the various herbs or ingredients stored in his home. The fact that some people had learned the ability definitely piqued your interest, however, “So… could I learn some?”

“What would you use it for?” His brow was furrowed as he looked at you, and you rolled your eyes.

“What do _you_ use it for?” You implicitly referenced the simple tasks he often liked to complete with magick, such as sweeping and cleaning his house. He never used it for much else, except the occasional little thing to delight you, such as the summoning of the forget-me-nots, or _encouraging_ the weather to be more favorable for a date. He claimed to not be powerful enough to completely change the weather, just make it a _little_ better, if possible.

“Fair enough. Here, I’ll take you to someone who can teach you.”

Sicheng then took a turn down some streets that led away from the town center, in the more residential area. The homes around here were closer together and smaller than Sicheng’s, and greatly resembled the tiny suburban area located near the center of your own town, where you lived. He knew the route by heart, bowing his head to some older people as you passed by them, and you would quickly go to do the same. You two finally arrived at the home of whoever he had in mind, and he tugged you closer to the door in order to raise his fist to it. He had placed two gentle knocks against it when it was swung open by a very gleeful and surprised woman.

“Oh! Dong Sicheng! Where have you been? You’ve missed a thousand hot pot nights, young man.” She scolded him, eliciting a sheepish flush across his neck. “And what is this hair color? The blonde was much better.”

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Zhong.” He replied, accepting her hug. “Is Chenle home?”

“Yes, he’s in the living room,” She eyed you, but before you could introduce yourself, bustled her way back into the kitchen to continue preparing whatever she had been making before Sicheng knocked.

“That’s his grandmother. I used to come over for hot pot every Wednesday night with my brother and my cousins ever since we were younger. Chenle’s very good friends with my cousins.” Your boyfriend explained as he guided you further into the house. He peered into the doorway of what seemed very much to be a normal living room, where a brunette boy was splayed across one of the dulled scarlet couches.

The boy immediately popped up, eyes lighting up and mouth breaking into a wide grin as he had spotted the two of you, “Yah! Dong Sicheng! And someone who I don’t know!”

“Hi, Chenle. This is my uh, girlfriend, Y/L/N Y/N. Y/N, that’s Zhong Chenle.”

“Hi, Y/N!” Chenle rounded on the other man, “You leave for three hundred years and come back out of nowhere with a girlfriend? You really know how to give your mom a heart attack, huh?”

“Yeah. Anyway, Y/N was interested in maybe learning some kind of magick. Which I can’t really help with.”

“Of course, you don’t know _how_ you do it, you can just _do_.” The younger boy sat on the floor, then gestured for you to join him. “I’ll teach you the basics of sigils and charms.”

You watched with interest as he grabbed a sheet of paper and pencil from his coffee table, Sicheng hanging back at the doorway still as Chenle explained what he was doing. “So, there’s a few different ways to do sigils. Wait, first of all, I’ve got to make this clear. Sicheng has shown you some pretty cool stuff, right? Summoning things, or bending the universe to his whim?”

“Not that extreme, but sure, yes. He summons things, grows things faster. Why?”

“I don’t really do that kind of stuff. The magick I can teach you is more… uh, grassroots? If Sicheng’s magick is a high-tech billion-dollar hospital, then mine is stirring a butter knife through water before drinking it in order to cure your hiccups.”

His analogy made you smile a little bit, “I don’t care about the extent of it, or what kind. I think learning any kind of magick is interesting.”

“Okay, cool. So, back to sigils.” Chenle smoothed out the paper again. “There’s a few different ways to make them, and this one specifically is a mix of a sigil and a charm. How I typically do it, is to first think of what goal I’m trying to achieve with this sigil, what exactly I want out of it. Again, it’s nothing monumental, maybe just better recall for a test, or positive energy in a friendship. Whatever it is, think of the outcome you want. Let’s say for instance, I want to make a sigil and charm to aid in a long and healthy relationship for you and Sicheng. This won’t ensure that you’ll never break up, or will be happy forever, but will bring some ‘good vibes’ and openness between you two.”

Chenle wrote your name at the top left of the paper, then Sicheng’s at the top right. He looked to you attentively as he asked, “What are your three favorite things about Sicheng?”

“Uhm,” You coughed awkwardly, glancing at the clearly embarrassed man still observing from the doorway. “He’s… genuine. And, a good listener, and thoughtful.”

As you listed them off, the boy on the floor wrote them under your boyfriend’s name, then turned to the man you’d just described. “And what are your favorite things about Y/N, Sicheng?”

He seemed reluctant to speak, avoiding your eye contact as he answered, “She’s funny, and unique, and understanding.”

Chenle nodded, scrawling them underneath your name before flipping the pencil around to the eraser side. He went into teaching mode again, clarifying his actions, “Now, I’m going to erase every third letter. The number should hold some kind of significance, I chose three because there’s three people involved in this sigil. You, Sicheng, and me.”

He went through, carefully counting and erasing the correct letters until he reached the end of the writing. You watched with rapt attention as he folded it three times, then reached up onto the tabletop to grab something else. It was a matchbox, and he retrieved a single match, striking it against the side. He held up the paper, then held the flame to the end of it, providing some kind of instruction, “Now I’m burning it, to expose the hopes and wishes to the cosmic energies around us. If I was to be doing this without you two in the room, I’d have to repeat the same process twice a day for about two weeks. But since you _are_ here, just this one time is enough.”

“I don’t feel any different.” You admitted as the paper had finished burning to ashes, which the boy promptly swept up into his hands, depositing them into a small bowl of what you guessed to be just water.

“I told you that it wouldn’t be anything earth-shattering or mind-blowing. Just you know, good vibes.” He rubbed his hands together to be completely rid of the ash, then grabbed a fresh sheet. Setting the new paper in front of you, he also handed you the pencil, “Your turn.”

You followed almost the same process that he did at first, thinking of your outcome. You decided that you wanted to help Jaemin score well on his college entrance exams, telling Chenle of your wish. He seemed impressed that it was for someone else, which you figured would be most reasonable, since he did his own for someone other than himself. Your wrote your middle cousin’s name, then the name of his top pick university. The same one Johnny was attending.

“Okay, now you need a number of significance.” Chenle was talking you through the steps as you went. “Preferably one under seven, since that’s the most amount of times you can fold a paper, and to erase more than one letter.”

“Can I choose three again? That’s his favorite number.” You requested, to which your instructor nodded.

“Nothing superstitious about repeating numbers. This is for something completely different.”

Going through, you carefully erased every third letter, then folded the paper three times. Chenle grabbed your wrist to keep you from reaching for a match, “Since your cousin isn’t here, burning the paper now wouldn’t help much, unless you did it about a hundred times. We’re going to activate it differently this time.”

“Oh, okay.” You waited patiently as he stood up, grabbing a jar from one of the shelves before sitting down with you again.

“It’s caraway. Helps to promote luck, good fortune, and prosperity.” He said as he set the jar of small seeds down in between the two of you. “Unfold the paper now.”

You did as he asked, prompting him to speak again, “Okay, now grab three seeds and place them in the center of the paper. Then fold it again, making sure that the seeds don’t fall out. All you have to do with it after that it carry it with you, and try not to think of the sigil, your cousin, or his entrance exams. The more you worry your mind with it, the harder it is for your spirit to get it done.”

After folding it again, you tucked it right-side-up into your back pocket, to make sure that the seeds won’t fall out. Chenle clapped his hands excitedly, “Congrats! You just did your first sigil!”

“Thank you, Chenle. That was pretty interesting.”

“I have a question now.” At his statement, you nodded to show that he could go ahead and ask it. “So… how did you guys meet?”

Sicheng finally made his presence known again, letting out a short laugh, “Y/N works at her aunt’s coffee shop. I came in and ordered a coffee.”

“That you immediately threw out.” You scoffed as Chenle seemed to have gotten a lightbulb moment.

“You can use these at your coffee shop! In the drinks, you can make them happier, or more likely to tip, or more productive at work!”

“I’m not going to drug my customers, Chenle.”

“It’s not drugs! It’s a minor charm.”

“That makes them feel or act certain ways and was put in their drink without their knowledge. Where I’m from, that’s called drugging someone and that’s illegal.” You laughed lightly, much to the younger boy’s disgruntlement.

“Just trying to help.”

* * *

Sicheng declined Mrs. Zhong’s offer for the two of you to stay for dinner, insisting that you had to go visit someone else as well. When you exited the Zhongs’ house, it was already dusk out, the streets illuminated by lampposts that you noted had no lightbulbs inside and were glowing anyway. As you got onto a familiar street, you figured that you were going back to his house, but instead he ended up at the one next door, not even bothering to knock as he entered. You hesitantly followed him in as he yelled out some names.

“Xuxi! Renjun! Yangyang!” At the lack of response, he tried again, with two new names, “Yuta! Ten! I know you guys are here, it’s Friday night! Come on!”

“Basement!” Came a muffled shout from what you presumed to be the basement, walking behind Sicheng to a stairway that lead down to another door.

On the other side of the door, you could hear the mass of boys before you could see them, various shouts and laughter emanating just out of sight. Sicheng opened it to reveal a cozy set-up of beanbags, a mattress, pillows, and blankets currently housing the five boys whose names he had called out before. In the middle of the vague circle were bowls of junk food as well as a board that you couldn’t decipher the purpose of.

“Sicheng!” They all yelled out, one jumping up ecstatically to engulf your boyfriend in a tight hug, one that he didn’t return at all.

“Yuta, could you please let go of me?” He requested, but the man still didn’t relent, dragging him towards the group in that same position.

You followed, amused at how uncomfortable Sicheng was at his friend’s affection. Yuta pushed him down onto a beanbag, and thankfully didn’t seem to forget about you, offering the space on the mattress closest to your boyfriend for you to sit on. You did gratefully as he immediately began bombarding you with questions.

“You’re Sicheng’s girlfriend, right? Y/N, right? That’s what the boys were saying your name was, is it Y/N? I’m still in shock that our little Sichengie got a girlfriend, right guys? And are you sure he didn’t do his little magic spells on your or something? Or, was it because he’s the cutest thing you’ve ever laid eyes on? Sichengie has been cute for as long as he’s lived, truly the cutest, right?”

“Yuta, are you done professing your undying love for Sicheng yet? I’m interested in hearing Y/N actually speak.” The man beside Yuta complained, pushing on his shoulder forcefully enough to knock him from his perch on the beanbag beside Sicheng. “Besides, Sicheng has been here for not even two minutes and he’s already planning your murder again.”

“Xuxi, you’re truly going to kill me one of these days.” Yuta shook his head as he clambered back into his seat, but nonetheless shut his mouth and looked to you with rapt attention. In fact, they all were. You recognized Xuxi and two of the others from Sicheng’s house earlier that day, but you never got any of their names.

“Uh, yeah, hi. I’m Y/N.” You introduced yourself, looking to your boyfriend for some kind of help.

Sicheng sat forward to address the room as well, “No, I didn’t use any kind of magick on her, she just genuinely likes me, as hard as you guys may find that to believe. Oh and uhm, that’s Yuta, Ten, my cousin Xuxi, and my twin cousins, Renjun, and Yangyang.”

They each gave you some kind of greeting as they were named, and you recognized Renjun and Yangyang from Sicheng’s house as well. He then gestured to the board in the center of the room, “And were you guys in the middle of a game of Dungeons and Dragons without me?”

“Yeah, you were gone for three hundred years, so we started a new campaign.” Yangyang explained as you looked to the board on the floor, where several figurines, papers, pencils, and dice were strewn about. “Several, actually.”

“We’re almost done anyway, you two can just watch for tonight,” Yuta suggested. “Then you can create your real characters next Friday.”

When Yuta mentioned next Friday, you could feel your muscles tense up. Would you really be staying here for a week, and even longer than that, since a real character would mean that you’d be here through even more sessions. Despite time was technically passing much slower, you didn’t want to stay here for that long. You had a family, work, and eventually college to get back to. Not to mention that you didn’t tell your parents you’d be going anywhere, seeing as it was a spur-of-the-moment thing.

“Sure, what characters did you guys make this go around?” Sicheng asked, and you stayed quiet as the boys listed off their characters.

Ten was an alcoholic druid doctor, Xuxi was a human rogue that had been blinded in the previous session, Renjun was a Tiefling boy detective, Yuta was a narcoleptic dwarf bard, and Yangyang was the poor, unfortunate Dungeon Master.

You’d never played D&D yourself, and the idea of these actually magical boys playing pretend as magical creatures and such was very funny to you. Sicheng’s friends were all very fun, rather loud, boys that you could see meshed very well with him and each other. Soon, they were all joking and yelling and laughing, currently with all the older boys teaming up on teasing Yangyang. He was apparently the youngest, even between him and his twin brother. Yangyang very indignantly explained that it was a two-minute difference and that Renjun had no right to be teasing him like the older boys. You could imagine by his exasperation that this was a scenario that had occurred many times before, but his bright smile gave away that he wasn’t truly angry at his relatives. It was all in good fun.

By the end of the night, their characters had all ended up on a runaway train headed for a mountain, and that’s where Yangyang decided to cut it off. The huge cliffhanger was probably payback for the teasing, as everyone groaned in disappointment at the sudden ending. Food, blankets, and pillows were gathered up as everyone made their way back to ground level. You figured out that you were in the three brothers’ house, as Yuta and Ten said their goodbyes and headed for the front door. After wrangling himself from Yuta’s arms, Sicheng gave farewells to his cousins too, inviting them out with you two tomorrow. Your throat constricted at him making future plans, even if it was for the next day.

Giving them goodbyes as well, you followed Sicheng to his own house next door, where his parents and Kun were already waiting in the living room. You felt your stomach jump into your throat, the idea of meeting his parents adding on to the anxiety and nerves you were feeling from the prior events of just getting here.

“Mom, Dad, Kun, this is my girlfriend, Y/N.” Sicheng coughed out an introduction. “Y/N, this is my mom, my dad, and my older brother Kun.”

“It’s nice to meet you all.” You politely bowed your head, shifting your weight between your feet.

There was an armchair and a seat on the couch open beside Kun. Sicheng took the seat beside his brother, leaving you with the armchair, sitting uncomfortably with your hands in your lap. As the family caught up like Sicheng did with his friends and cousins earlier, you were mostly quiet, watching your boyfriend’s face light up and his expressions change as he conversed with them. Despite his initial coldness with his family, you saw him slowly defrost. He was genuinely enjoying listening to what had happened in the three hundred years he’d been gone, as he filled them in on what it was like on the other side.

“Three hundred years was much too long, Sicheng.” His mom chastised him for the period of absence for what seemed to be the tenth time that night, and he shook his head.

“I told you all that you were welcome to visit me anytime.” He replied simply, earning an eye roll from his brother.

“And then put a binding spell around the gateway.” Kun snorted from beside him.

“I didn’t say how _easy_ it would be to visit me.” Sicheng got an elbow in the side for that one, but nonetheless you could tell that underneath his now annoyed exterior, he was still enjoying himself. Really, truly having a good time.

“Oh, do you want anything, Y/N? Food, or something to drink?” The oldest brother seemed to suddenly remember that you existed, and you tore your eyes up to look at him in surprise.

“Ah, a glass of water, but you can just tell me where the kitchen is, I can get it myself.” You went to stand up, but so did Kun.

“No, I’ll help you.”

And with that, you gave your boyfriend a short glance before following your probably-ex-employee out of the living room and into the kitchen that was just across the hall. Kun reached into a cabinet, handing you a cup whose colors shifted between teal and purple in the light emanating from the suspended ball of photons just below the ceiling. There was no faucet for running water, then you were aware of the water that had suddenly appeared in your glass, followed by a few cubes of ice.

“Thanks,” You muttered, taking a sip of the water, not quite ready to go back into the living room.

“We started off on the wrong foot.” Kun declared, hands stuffed in the pockets of his pants. Just like Sicheng.

“No, we started off on the right foot, you turned it _into_ the wrong foot.”

He nodded, accepting your own statement, “Either way, I apologize for… everything I did that upset you.”

You took another drink of the cool water. “You said that Sicheng had put a barrier or something over the portal, right?”

Kun nodded.

“So how did you get through?”

And that was when a small simper crossed the man’s face as he leaned back against the counter, seeming to be very amused, “The best way to conceal one’s magic is to practice under a false name, like WinWin. But, he ended up giving away his real name, and it kept being used, making it harder to keep from outside detection. And, my brother’s focus on the binding spell started slipping. Because he, you know, fell in love.”

Your mouth formed an ‘o’ as you realized exactly what Kun was saying, “So it was my fault?”

“To a certain degree. But my brother was the one who told you his name in the first place. And he had mentioned that he asked you out first. So really, it’s his fault.”

“Oh.”

He changed the topic again, opening the pantry, “While we’re in here, are you hungry too? We’ve got some snacks you probably know.”

“I’m good, thank you.” You were still pondering what Kun had told you. Sicheng came to your town to escape his family and stay hidden from them, presumably to live a peaceful and solitary life. But instead, he ended up asking you out, and telling you who he was and his real name, and just like Kun said, fell in love with you. And you’d fallen in love with him too, even after he lied about his name and who he really was. What a pair you two are.

A head suddenly poked in from the doorway, Sicheng looking around the kitchen warily, silently asking if you were okay. After all, Kun had put some kind of restraining charm on you after pretending to be your new hire. That felt like ages ago, but it was just this morning. Theoretically. You were still unsure of how the time situation between the two sides worked exactly. Offering him a small smile that was meant to be reassuring, you sipped from your cup again. Your boyfriend walked into the room, stopping beside you, hand creeping to the small of your back, “Everything good in here?”

“Yeah, we were just talking about how dumb you are.” Kun teased, to which his younger brother sighed.

Sicheng’s thumb rubbed gently at your back, “Are you ready to go to bed, my love?”

“Sure,” You set your cup down on the countertop. “Goodnight, Kun.”

“Night. See you guys in the morning!” He replied cheerily as Sicheng led the way down the halls towards what you guessed to be his old bedroom.

The inside of the room was dimly lit only by the moonlight streaming in through the window. You remarked on how similarly it was decorated to his house back in your town. The shelves this time held books and old toys, all with a thick layer of dust collected on it. With a wave of his hand, he had cleaned all of the dusty surfaces before rooting through his drawers. Some of the clothes looked much too small for him now, and he finally found an outfit satisfactory enough to him to offer out to you. You looked at the clothes with a frank smile before sitting on his bed, the top sheet being a quilt with all the phases of the moon on it. Sicheng frowned, setting the clothes on top of the dresser before sitting beside you. He definitely knew something was up, you always begged to borrow his clothes whenever you stayed over at his house.

With prompting, you blurted out, “You missed being home. I can tell, you’re really, really happy here.”

He tilted his head, obviously not expecting you to be say that, “I’m also really, really happy when I’m with you, Y/N.”

“You want to stay, don’t you?” You completely ignored his response, mouth exposing all the thoughts that had been plaguing you for most of your stay here.

“I’m staying wherever you are.” He reassured you, hand finding yours to give it a tight squeeze.

The action did little to reassure you, and you swallowed the lump forming in your throat, “ _I_ need to go home, Sicheng.”

“Then let’s go home.”

“This is your home.”

“No, this is just where I’m _from_. My _home_ is with you, sitting on the couch in my tiny, kind of creepy house eating takeout and listening to you complain about your job, or conjuring up plans for us to travel far away, or how we’re going to move out of that small town that you hate so much. That’s home to me, Y/N. _You’re_ my home.”

By the end of his small spiel, you couldn’t help the absolutely endeared grin from spreading across your lips. He was being genuine, and the pure affection coming from his absolutely pink face made your own heart swell.

“That was lame, Sicheng.”

He laughed as the serious moment dissipated, “I thought you said you liked lame sometimes.”

“Most of the time, actually.” You grinned, leaning forward to give him a long, soft kiss.

When you broke away, he popped up onto his feet, tugging on your hand to urge you to stand up with him. “Well come on, let’s go back.”

“What, right now? I thought you wanted to have breakfast with your family, and go out with Yuta, and Ten, and your cousins tomorrow.”

“They can wait another three hundred years.”

With a short laugh, you shrugged, “Alright, let’s go.”

Sicheng cracked his door open quietly, peering down the hallway in both directions before opening it all the way for both of you to leave. He pressed a finger to his lips as he slowly and silently shut the door. There were no more voices coming from the living room or kitchen, and you creeped down the halls towards the front door. Gently, he twisted the handle open, ushering you through first then closing it softly behind you. You habitually reached for his hand as you two took to the path leading away from the town, leaving the dimly illuminated streets behind.

Your boyfriend finally stopped you at a clearing just outside the town, and if it weren’t for the moonlight, you were sure that you wouldn’t be able to see anything. There was a singular wooden and wrought-iron bench, the seat and back taken over by flourishing vines and weeds, while the iron had begun to rust in some areas. You figured that this was where the gateway on this side, after all you hadn’t seen it earlier when you had first crossed over.

You could feel your heart speeding up, your breaths quickening, and you held to Sicheng’s hand just a little tighter. He seemed to know your apprehension, letting go of your hand to cup your face with both hands, forcing you to look at him.

“Hey,” He spoke softly, and you feel his warm breath just barely fanning over your face. “I’m here, it’ll be okay.”

An attempt at a reassuring smile came to your features, but you knew that it wasn’t very convincing. Sicheng left a small peck on your forehead before letting go of your face, and before his hand was back at his side, yours had grabbed it. Memories of the utterly terrifying experience from travelling through the gateway before flashed in your memory as you took a couple steps past the bench.

“One more step, Y/N.” Sicheng informed you, sticking his foot out to show you exactly where the gateway started. “Are you ready?”

“Yeah, sure.” You swallowed forcefully, taking that last step with your boyfriend.

You felt… nothing. Not pain, or pleasure. Just pure nothing.

Remembering that right before the hellish pain you had felt nothing, you started panicking. Then suddenly a pair of lips were on yours, and you remembered Sicheng. He was here with you, and you could _feel_ him. You could feel his mouth perfectly molded against your own as one of his hands still held yours and the other gently held the back of your neck. And with some urging to your body to actually respond, you were kissing him back with just as much force, focusing your entire being on this and not any sort of prospect of suffering. Sicheng was all you had to think about.

You were still kissing him when a cool breeze hit your flushed cheeks, and you realized that you could feel something else. Pulling back from the kiss, you looked around in wonder at the fact that you were in Sicheng’s backyard. You were back home. And this time, it was a real smile that came to your face as you kept taking in your surroundings as if it was the first time you’d ever been out in the world. Then your eyes fell back to Sicheng’s face, his own expression mirroring your own, except he was only gazing at you.

“Welcome home, my love.” He breathed, eyes never leaving your face as he still looked on tenderly.

You were thankful for the cool breeze, feeling your cheeks heat up even more as you looked up to the moon, “What time is it?”

“It’s only been about four hours here since we left.”

Squeezing your eyes shut momentarily, you decided not to contemplate that again, just accepting what he had said. You went to hold his hand again but found that there was already something in it. Gently taking it from his palm, you realized that it was another small bundle of forget-me-nots.

“Are you going to call me lame again?” Sicheng asked with half a smirk.

“No,” You simply shook your head, handing the little blue flowers back to him. Reaching into your back pocket, you pulled out the bunch of forget-me-nots he had summoned for you earlier that evening, their soft petals now a bit flattened and slightly dulled. But the memory was still as fresh and sweet as ever.

“Because I’m pretty lame, too.”


End file.
